While rightwing Australia scapegoats immigrants, the country directly benefits from our skills and labour

‘The fact that Australia is a desirable target for immigration is also not because of some inherent cultural superiority that has created our success as a nation.’ Photograph: Peter Drew

I’m an immigrant. If you subscribe to the common rhetoric in mainstream news, and coming out of the mouths of rightwing politicians, my very existence here in Australia is in direct opposition to the success of “ordinary” (meaning white) Australians.

Angus Taylor’s budget reply speech last week reinforced the widely held belief that Australia is being swarmed by immigrants, coming to take the jobs, housing and culture of white Australians who automatically are prescribed a right to be here, as if they didn’t arrive by boat or plane at some point, too.